Blog
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Tasmanian mokume gane jewellery
It often comes as a surprise when a mokume gane collector discovers that this rare and complicated process is being produced by a jeweller in Hobart, Tasmania. Mokume gane originated in Japan during the 17th Century and was used in highly prized works of art, armor components and edged weapons. At Metal Urges we find…
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Mokume Gane vs Damascus steel
Many of our clients come in with a good idea of the gemstone they would like for their ring, however they have less of an idea as to the ring designs available. While there is no denying that the gemstone is often the main focus of a ring you will find a huge number of…
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Gemstone hardness – Mohs scale of mineral hardness
In 1812 a German mineralogist by the name of Friedrich Mohs developed a scale of hardness based upon a harder minerals ability to scratch a softer one. Although quite an aged scale, Mohs scale is still used in the modern jewellery trade for describing hardness in gem material. Mohs hardness Mineral Absolute hardness 1 Talc…
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Metal allergies
At Metal Urges Fine jewellery, we often encounter customers who believe they are allergic to gold. To this date we have never actually found an individual who is truly allergic to gold, in its purest form gold is completely hypoallergenic. Pure gold’s main attraction to humans is its stable chemical nature and resistance to all…
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What is White Gold?
What is white gold? The answer to this question is there’s no such thing as white gold. Gold is a pure (24ct) yellow metal found either as native nuggets and flakes or more commonly extracted from ore. There are however a range of white gold alloys available for us in jewellery manufacture. These alloys combine pure yellow gold…
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18ct gold vs 9ct gold
Is 9ct gold more durable than 18ct gold? This is a question we get asked often at Metal Urges Fine Jewellery. The simple and correct answer is no. Many of our new clients are surprised to hear this. The commonly held opinion of many (including a lot of people in the jewellery trade) is that 9ct…